All rights reserved. August 31, 2017 Strategic Sustainability Management Course Syllabus APS1038H, University of Toronto, Winter 2018 Session Course Description: This cross-disciplinary graduate course provides a holistic overview of the environmental, social, economic and governance (ESEG) aspects of sustainability management and how to address them strategically to maximize business and product performance to meet changing stakeholder expectations. You will have the opportunity to learn about a variety of sustainability challenges faced by a variety of industry sectors, such as: • mitigation and adaptation to climate change; • energy, water, materials and resource management; • minimizing supply chain risks that can derail business continuity. The need to approach these broad challenges in a strategic manner is discussed, along with best practices that include: • going beyond corporate social responsibility; • sustainability reporting frameworks to manage and communicate performance; and • the importance of life cycle thinking for credible environmental marketing activities. You will gain a cross-sector, cross-functional, cross-disciplinary perspective that will prepare you to lead and facilitate sustainability management programs in virtually any industry. The importance of integrating strategic sustainability management into the interconnected network of systems that make up the business-to-business value chain will be discussed. The value of strategically managing sustainability impacts throughout the full life cycle of products will also be addressed. Internationally recognized frameworks, best practices, methodologies, tools and standards will be introduced as vehicles to tie the concepts together for practical application of solutions that support leadership in sustainability performance improvement. Who This Course Is For: This course is for aspiring sustainability change agents who wish to gain a broader and deeper understanding of business and product strategic sustainability management from multiple stakeholder perspectives that make up the business-to-business value chain. This course is for you--- if you believe that businesses can and should be a thriving force for good in the world with products that do not harm the environment or social wellbeing. As an engineer, you seek to understand, facilitate and influence how stakeholders can collaborate to lead the development and implementation of transformative management systems and programs for a sustainably prosperous world for all. Course prerequisites: Prior experience in the workforce or business/entrepreneurship, familiarity with environmental management systems and basic concepts of economic, environmental and social sustainability is an asset. Proficiency in the English language is recommended as a prerequisite to maximize benefit from interactive class discussions.
